


Three

by n0tab00



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: M/M, Multi, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-01-05 19:05:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 19,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n0tab00/pseuds/n0tab00
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a town of werewolves, new mayor Sho got pack enforcer Jun and healer Masaki in a bind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Even before the door opened, a disgusted growl escaped Jun Matsumoto. A tiny grey blob dragged its owner into the store.

  
"Hold on, Kitty," the owner said making Jun's lips curled in contempt.

Of all the name he could have chosen for the Maine Coon, Jun thought. Idiot.

  
"Mayor Sakurai, looks like Kitty took to the leash just fine," Masaki Aiba said as he placed his palm on Jun's lower back to calm his agitated mate. "Are you two here for food?"

  
The mayor beamed and picked up the bundle of fur. "Yes. And she's a fast learner. Soon I can walk her to the park and stuff."

  
Jun nearly rolled his eyes when the mayor gave the kitten a kiss. Every first Wednesday of the month at five p.m. for the past six months, the mayor and the blob would come in to Masaki's pet supplies store to buy a month's worth of cat food and a new toy like clockwork. As an enforcer of the pack, it was hard for Jun to accept the new mayor initially after Alpha Ohno announced Sho Sakurai's appointment to take care of the town's affairs.

  
He understood that they needed human's help to run the town as not many in the werewolf clan had the patience to keep up to date with computers and technology, and being tied to the desk doing paperwork and talking to even more exasperating humans, but none of them lasted long after their romantic notion of werewolves were shattered when the first full moon made its appearance. The fact that Mayor Sakurai had lasted for half a year was commendable. Although Jun believed that it was more the result of Alpha Ohno banning any werewolf activity within seven km of the mayor property at any time than due to the human's tolerance.

  
Masaki left Jun with a warning glance to behave himself to attend to the mayor and the blob.  _Honestly Jun, those two are harmless_ , Masaki relayed his thoughts to Jun. The telepathic ability gradually appeared after the werewolves bound themselves to their life long mates.

  
_I don't get why the dumbass brought in a cat when he knew this town is full of weres_ , Jun replied.

  
_Kitty is not the first and only cat in town, Jun._   


  
_And what kind of cat take to the leash? Both of them are strange. He takes the blob everywhere too._   


  
_I think it's cute that Kitty hangs around in the mayor's office._  Masaki smiled at the mayor as he packed the usual canned food and a new mouse toy in the usual red shopping bag Sho always brought with him. "Will that be all, Mayor?"

  
"Yes. And just call me Sho. No need to be so formal with me," the mayor said as he paid Masaki.

  
"Well, Sho," Masaki felt Jun giving him a mental slap, "Have a good day."

  
Sho nodded as he guided Kitty to the door. "Good day to you too, Aiba," he turned to Jun, "Matsumoto."

  
Jun grunted. There was something about Mayor Sho Sakurai keeping him on the edge and he swore the blob just glared at him before they stepped out of the store.

  
Freaks.


	2. Dreams

"So are we going to talk about it, Jun?" Masaki nuzzled Jun's neck as they recovered from their orgasm.  
  
"Talk about what?" Jun's hand stilled from stroking Masaki's sweat-damp back. Their bedside lamp cast a warm glow over their naked bodies.  
  
"The mayor. He's in your dreams and..."   
  
"No!" Jun pushed Masaki away from him. "No. Don't even say it."  
  
Masaki took Jun's hand in his. "Sho's in my dreams too, Jun."  
  
"Masaki, no." Jun closed his eyes. Appearing through dreams was a sign that their souls are calling to each other to become whole, the werewolves believed. A way for Fate to give its blessing for the couple.  
  
"Having a tri-mate bond is rare, but perhaps...?"  
  
"No. He's a human," Jun pulled Masaki into an embrace. "And I have you. We're soul mates."  
  
"But what if he's our soul mate too?" Masaki persisted. "Maybe you're agitated with him because your mind his rejecting him while our spirits are longing for him."  
  
"That is ridiculous!" Jun tried to push Masaki off him again, but Masaki tightened his hold on him.  
  
"Jun, every time you meet Sho, your love making is rougher than usual. It was as if you want to deny him having an effect on you." Jun became rigid with Masaki's words. "Are you scared of him claiming you?" Masaki chuckled as Jun's eyes widened. "You're missing out, Jun. Being on the bottom is so much fun. And it'll be so hot..."  
  
"No," Jun tried to shake Masaki off him, but his mate just laughed as he pinned Jun to the mattress.   
  
"Jun, I hope you do not forget that I may not go into fights as much as you do, being an enforcer and all, but I can still kill you as well as I can heal you."  
  
"Masaki..." Jun sighed defeated as Masaki leaned down to kiss him softly on the lips.  
  
"I don't want to wait another six months for you to be ready to accept Sho as our mate, Jun," Masaki said as his eyes met Jun's. "I am sure he's our mate."  
  
"But I'm not. He's human."  
  
"Are you sure? Think about it, Jun. Alpha Ohno personally invited him to come to this town. He even went as far as building Sho's big house for five years before Sho came here," Masaki eased his hold on Jun. "Maybe there is something else."  
  
"I told you there's something off about the mayor and he smells like a human."  
  
"Yet he appears in our dreams," Masaki persisted. "Claiming both of us. Our alpha."  
  
"No," Jun refused to consider not being the top wolf in his relationship.  
  
"Yes," Masaki whispered in Jun's ear. "I can't stand it anymore. I want him," he whimpered, "Please Jun, let him in. Don't you remember how lonely it was before we found each other?"  
  
"Masaki..." Jun stroked his mate's soft brown hair. "He doesn't recognise us."  
  
"What do you mean?" Masaki's eyebrows scrunched in confusion.  
  
"He doesn't recognise us. There is nothing in his eyes showing any interest in us. Not a flare of lust, not a glint of desire, nothing."  
  
"No. That can't be true. I'm sure he's our soul mate. Our third," Masaki sat up.  
  
Jun followed and placed a hand on Masaki's thigh. "The mayor is an attractive man and we may lust after him, but he's not our mate, Masaki."  
  
"No, my gut says he is," Masaki looked at Jun determined. "Can we at least try? Please. I don't want to hold back anymore."  
  
"Masaki..." Jun felt at a loss seeing his mate's large eyes filling up with tears. He can feel the sharp longing emanating from his mate. A familiar feeling he had been harbouring for the mayor ever since the dreams began. He had been trying to hate Sho to tamp down the guilt at the thought of betraying Masaki, but now that he knew Masaki felt the same about the mayor he felt liberated. And he really wanted to believe that the miracle of having a third could happen to them. "Okay, we can try, but it has to be Sho's decision. We'll back off if he doesn't want us."  
  
Masaki sniffed. "Okay."  
  
"And we won't kill him if he hurts us, okay," Jun patted Masaki's head.  
  
Masaki nodded with a wavering smile. "Okay. But maybe just a slight heartburn?"  
  
"Hmm... Maybe," Jun smiled as Masaki wiped his tears away. "Maybe a stomachache so he has trouble leaving the toilet for a while."  
  
The couple laughed as they started plotting to make Sho see them as his mates. One envisioning a great romance while the other anxious of getting his heart broken.


	3. Looking

"What naughty things are you two planning?" A droll made Jun clenched his jaw while Masaki flushed beside him.  
  
"Not... Nothing," Masaki stammered as his best friend Kazunari Ninomiya gave him a knowing look.  
  
"Right..." Nino pulled a chair to join their table at the restaurant's balcony overlooking a small stream. "You better not be eyeing my Satoshi."  
  
"Of course not," Masaki glanced quickly to where the clan's alpha was standing. "We're looking at the mayor..."  
  
Jun groaned.  _Masaki you fool!_  
  
Nino's grin widened as Masaki winced. "Oh ho ho... The mayor eh..." He figured as much seeing Ohno looked to be in deep thought as Mayor Sakurai was talking to him by the stream. There was a grey blob curling around the mayor's ankle.  
  
"Not another word, Nino," Jun hissed.  
  
Nino shrugged. "Those two looked serious. Did the security meeting go well?"  
  
"Same as usual, I suppose," Jun took a sip of his cappuccino. "Trolls and things."  
  
It was a week before the full moon and they just came from the monthly security meeting between the werewolves and the humans. Jun attended as a security consultant for the weres with Masaki as the disaster management consultant. The titles sounded dumb to them, but they were assured that would make them more respectable to the police commissioner and the other town representatives at the meeting. Alpha Ohno was referred to as supervisory director.  
  
"You should've been there Nino," Masaki took a bite off his sweet, crisp beignet. "They were talking about tech security stuff to monitor the trolls. Jun said the trolls at the borders are unusually restless these days."  
  
"Sorry. I had to work out some glitches with some apps with my people in different time zones," Nino rubbed his eyes suddenly feeling tired from missing sleep for the past few days. "We got them done before the launch just now."  
  
"Really?" Jun would've cared more had they created an indestructible smartphone he didn't have to worry about breaking when shifting forms and fighting with the trolls and unruly weres. "Good for you."  
  
"Shut up, Jun. I won't say anything about how you choose to protect the clan with your claws, but don't forget that those apps are bringing money in for the clan." Nino bared his fangs causing Ohno to turn their way. "A lot of money."  
  
"Calm down you two," Masaki waved at the alpha and the mayor who also looked up at them. "Ohno and the mayor are watching."  
  
"I'm fine," Nino mumbled, telling Jun and Masaki that he was also relaying the message to his mate. "Bring Sakurai here. Your enforcer is being a dick cause he's lusting after the mayor."  
  
'Nino!" Masaki said alarmed as Jun froze in his seat.  
  
Nino leaned closer to them. "Do you think he's your tri-mate?" The way the two were looking at the mayor was the same as when they discovered that they were mates. Nino and Masaki were close since birth and had thought they were meant to be until their mates came into the picture.  
  
Even when Ohno had claimed Nino, the best friends entertained the thought that perhaps Masaki could be a tri-mate with them after finding out the legend of the three bonded mates from an elder. That was until Jun came along. The four of them had laughed about it during a get-together after Jun and Masaki made their vows, but Nino sensed the same tension and excitement from the couple when they stared at the mayor.  
  
"Do you think so too?" Masaki whispered.  
  
"Dreams?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Oh shit. You sure?"  
  
"Not really, but we're going for it."  
  
"Kazunari," Ohno called out as he approached their table. "Aren't you supposed to be sleeping now?"  
  
"I'm hungry," Nino stood up and pulled a chair for his mate. "Where's the mayor?"  
  
"He can't go past the door with Kitty," Ohno said as he nodded his greetings to Jun and Masaki. "No pets allowed."  
  
Nino snorted at the look of disappointment on the couple's faces. They were totally expecting Sho to join them. Poor puppies.  
  
"Anyway," Ohno said as he made himself comfortable before snatching one of Masaki's beignets, "What's this about you lusting after Sakurai, Jun? Any trouble between you and Masaki I need to know about?"  
  
Jun glared at Nino as he cleared his throat and held Masaki's hand in his. "We're fine, Alpha."  _Damn your best friend to hell Masaki. This is so embarrassing!_  
  
"Good. Don't play around with Sakurai, Matsumoto. Aiba," Ohno said in a deceptively soft voice. "He is under my protection. If anything untoward happens to him, I won't forgive both of you."  
  



	4. Chance

 

"Pardon me, Mayor. Matsumoto and Aiba are here to see you," the secretary's voice boomed over the intercom.

"Please show them in, Sara. Thank you," Sho replied while keeping hie eyes on his laptop screen. "And you should be going home now. It's full moon tonight. Go home, Sara."

Sara gave an exasperated look at the two handsome men standing in front of her. "Yes, Mayor. I know." She pointed the door to the mayor of Ookamiyama's office as she cut off the intercom. "He should be going home too. Anyway, gentlemen, please enter while I take my leave."

Masaki waved the secretary goodbye before Jun gave him a tug to enter the mayor's room. The mayor had implemented shorter working hours on full moon days. A brilliant move everyone thought as it would give time for the town's people to shop and do whatever they needed to do before locking themselves indoor the whole night. The werewolves would also have plenty of time to go to their designated area to run around in their wolf  and were forms.

Staying indoor was highly encouraged for the non-weres as sometimes weres experiencing their first change and the rogue ones might roam around town. Lacking control, these weres might turn aggressive and attack the non-weres. In Ookamiyama, the humans were not allowed to kill the weres. The police and civilians could sedate and restrain the weres but any judgement would go through the weres' own court of law. The weres took care of their own.

However, there were places where the humans can mingle with the weres to fulfill certain carnal desires. These were highly-regulated to ensure the safety of their patrons. Jun had it on record that the mayor never went to any of them except for site inspection to ensure they conformed to the set regulations. 

"Yes, how can I help you, Matsumoto, Aiba?" Sho said looking up from his screen. The metallic frame of his rectangular-shaped spectacles glinted as sunlight reflected on it.

 "You're welcome to see the transformation," Jun extended the invitation again as was customary to give the mayor the chance to understand the monthly ritual of the werewolves. Most of the mayor before them accepted the invitation and most of them left as soon as their three-month probation period was over. Some even earlier. Mayor Sakurai had yet to say yes.

"Again, no, but thank you," Sho returned his attention to his screen. He wondered if Jun would keep coming every month until he said yes.

"Jun will keep you safe. He's a great enforcer," Masaki chimed in as his mate felt offended by Sho's refusal.

Sho didn't look up. "I am sure he is, so I'm confident Jun can handle the situation as always. Besides, Ohno already explained everything that I need to know."

Jun had a mind to bite Sho's pretty head off at the same time a tiny squeak could be heard from under his table. A fluffy grey blob looked ready to pounce on the enforcer.

_And you wonder why the kitten hates you, Jun._  Masaki reprimanded his mate. _But it's cute that she's trying to protect him when you probably can swallow her in one gulp._

"Kitty, it's okay," Sho crouched down to grab hold of his kitten. "It's okay, Kitty. They're good men."

Jun forced himself to calm down.  _There is no way this wuss is claiming us, Masaki. I won't have it!_

Sho was patting the now purring blob as he walked over to the couple. "I just need to send a few e-mails before I leave as well. And you really don't have to invite me again, Matsumoto. I'm fine as it is."

"Do you believe in soul mates?" Masaki ignored Jun and took his chance. If he left it to his proud mate, they won't get anywhere near to what Fate had shown them in their dreams.

Sho smiled. "I think you two are a perfect example of one."

Even Jun couldn't help the warmth that crept to his heart at the statement as he could feel his mate was also experiencing.

"How about a tri-mate bond?" Masaki could see intrigue in the eyes behind the glasses. "Did Ohno tell you that?"

"No, he didn't," Sho stopped stroking Kitty. "Should I be aware of this?"

"Yes, you should," Masaki pressed on even as Jun frantically reminded him of Ohno's warning at the restaurant a week ago through their telepathic connection. "Because we think you, Jun and I, the three of us, are soul mates."


	5. Choices

 

  
It was the first Wednesday of a new month. 4:55 p.m.

Masaki thought he was going to have a panic attack.

"Masaki... Masaki..." Jun's arms circled his mate's hips. "Open your eyes and look at me, Masaki."

Masaki didn't even realised he had his eyes shut. He felt Jun's warm forehead touched his and opened his eyes slowly.

"Calm down, Masaki. We can get through this..." Jun crooned and rub his hand reassuringly on his mate's trembling back. They stayed like that until the door to their pet store opened along with the stab of pain from the day of the last full moon.

"Ahh... Should I come another time?" They heard the mayor's hesitant voice moments after the door clicked shut.

"No, it's fine," Jun turned around blocking Masaki from their customer's view. "Please take your time browsing the store." He was the only customer at the store as always.

Sho nodded and adjusted Kitty on his sloping shoulder as he made his way to the cat section. Jun would love to tell him to get out like Sho did at his office a fortnight ago, but he couldn't. He couldn't turn their third away. Yet the scene of that day came unbidden in his mind.

The shock on the mayor's face when Masaki said they were soul mates. The way his full lips drawn into a tight line.

"Please leave my office, Matsumoto, Aiba," he said stepping back as Masaki reached out to him. "I'm not interested in satisfying your baser urges."

"No, no, you don't understand," Masaki's voice broke, "The three of us are bonded. You were in our dreams. We..."

"Then just leave it in the dream," Sho turned his back on them. "Find another who is willing."

"We're not talking about fetish sex here," Masaki raised his voice. "Yes, the full moon makes us hornier and more beastly, but that's not..."

"Leave," they barely heard the mayor, but they flinched from the anger they felt emanating from him. "This never happened. Get out."

That night deep in the forest, Masaki and Jun had ran, howled and fought until they were too exhausted to stand. Having realised Sho as their third mate, the longing was stronger and the call louder in their were form. The pain of rejection even sharper than they had imagined. Ohno and Nino had to search for them and bring them back home a day later. They had not met the mayor without Ohno or Nino around, until today. The first Wednesday of the new month.

A meow brought Jun from his pensive state. Sho had placed Kitty on the counter along with the usual cat food made by Masaki and a cat collar with sparkly pink sakura design and a silver bell on it. "How much are these?"

Jun bowed politely as he scanned the items. If Sho could act as if nothing had happened, then he could do it too. Masaki however was still frozen on his spot. The healer was more sensitive to emotions which can leave him drained of his usual energetic and happy go lucky self. Jun straightened from putting the canned food in the mayor's usual red shopping bag when Masaki stirred.

"How could you feel nothing, Sho?" Masaki whispered. "How could you feel nothing for us?"

Sho took a deep breath before exhaling. "Never happened."

"I don't believe you," Masaki stepped closer to the counter. "Can you not feel the call of our bond?"

"Masaki, stop," Jun grabbed hold of his mate's wrist.  _Remember what we said last time. If he said no, we'll leave him alone._

"I don't want to leave you alone, Sho," Masaki whimpered staring directly at Sho's eyes. "You, Jun and I are meant to be. I can feel it."

"Aiba..." Sho sighed as he steadied Kitty which had attached herself to the front of his white shirt. "I understand that werewolves believe in mates and bonding and I respect that. Yes, Ohno confirmed that there are the rare tri-mate bonding you mentioned, but he said even without the third, the couple can live normally."

The mayor's reply caught Jun's attention. "Mayor Sakurai, answer me honestly," he squared up to meet Sho's gaze. "Do you accept that we are mates, but had chose not to pursue the bonding with us?"

Masaki turned to look at Jun. "What... What do you mean?" His question was left hanging as Sho closed his eyes while taking several deep breaths.

"Sho Sakurai," Jun pressed on, "Did you choose not to have us as your mates?"

The couple saw Sho swallowed before his lips moved. "Satoshi..."

"Satoshi?" Jun and Masaki said in unison. "Alpha Ohno? Why..."

_Stop it at once Matsumoto! Aiba!_

The pair flinched when their alpha's voice boomed in their minds. The ability to communicate mentally to any member of the pack was a gift that could signal one to be an alpha of the pack. The weres had mind links with only their mate and their alpha.   
   
Masaki's eyes widened. "Sho, you have the mind link with Alpha Ohno too?"

"But how... You're human. You smell like a human," Jun growled. "Just what the hell are you?!"

_Matsumoto, Aiba, stop right now!_

"Keep the change," Sho quickly placed a bundle of notes on the counter and grabbed his shopping bag. 

"Wait!" Jun jumped over the counter and blocked the exit before the mayor could get to it. His eyes turned amber as his were came to the fore. "What are you?"

Sho stopped in his tracks and gently put his shopping bag and Kitty on the floor prodding her to hide as he spied Masaki closing in on him, eyes turning amber as well. He needed to calm down and get out of the store. The enforcer was sharp to catch his slip, and he was fast too. Sho's mind quickly calculated his opponents. He was sure the healer did something to lower his guard and make him careless just then.  _Satoshi!_

Jun growled louder as he began to shift to his were form. "No, Alpha. I need to be sure he is not a danger to the pack. Masaki, seal the room."

A heavy whirr heightened Sho's urgency for escape as screens began descending on all sides of the store blocking the sunlight. He really did not want to leave Kitty, but he was sure they won't hurt her. Jun and Masaki were looking to draw blood. He was well aware that the couple were not in the pack's four-member governing Arashi Council for nothing. They would not hesitate to kill him even if they believed he was their mate if he posed a danger to their pack.  
   
 _Satoshi, where are you? They're not listening to you._

_I'm on my way._

Jun and Masaki stepped closer to Sho. Now much bigger, taller and menacing in their were forms. Sho remained still. The barriers were approaching half way down.

_I need to leave now._

Ohno paused before replying.  _Just don't kill them, Sho._  

Jun and Masaki took their positions as Sho stepped back so both of them were in his line of sight. 

"I'll come back for Kitty later."

That was the last thing Jun and Masaki remembered before everything went dark and silent.

That and a pair of blood-red eyes. 


	6. Grilling

 

"Hope you'll get your spark back soon, Commander! ^o^"

Jun rolled his eyes at the glittering note attached on a box of high-grade meat from his enforcement team. Very cute. He was going to put them through hell when he's back.

After getting a glass of water, he went to the kitchen porch where he could hear Masaki bantering with Nino down in their vegetable garden. Nino told them the story was that they were testing their store's security barrier when they got electrocuted while tinkering with some wires or something and other. Everyone knew their hostile relationship with anything technology and bought the story, it seemed. Though weres heal fast, even they need some time to recover from electric shock. 

Lies. 

Jun had been pondering over every little details of their encounter with the mayor since he woke up from his two-day slumber three days ago. The mayor knocked them out good and he did not have a clue how. Masaki woke up a day after the encounter and took care of Jun. Without Masaki's healing touch, they estimated him to still be unconscious for at least a week. 

He had seen the photos Nino took of them lying naked on the floor the way they were first found by him and his mate Ohno. There were no trace of blood or bruise anywhere. 

"Jun, don't think too hard on it," Masaki called out as he and Nino walked up the stairs with basket full of vegetables from their garden. "Why don't you  start preparing the grill. We'll get our answers later."

Ohno and Sho would be joining them for dinner. Jun knew Ohno only agreed to bring Sho along because Nino had refused to leave until Ohno explained his relationship with the mayor. Seeing that Nino was still staying with them since they were knocked out, the explanation had yet to be given.

Jun grunted as he prepared the charcoal before helping Masaki and Nino with the vegetables and setting up the porch for their dinner. He hoped they'd get their answers later because he needed to know the reason behind the pair of blood-red eyes haunting his dreams.

***

It was 6:30 p.m. when they heard two cars pulling up on their driveway as the sky began to turn pink. 

"I'll bring them in," Masaki went to the front door to greet their guests. Jun and Nino busied themselves around the grill. 

"Jun, look what the mayor brought for us," Masaki walked in with a huge hamper of fruits and chocolates. "How thoughtful of him."

_How typically human._  Jun sneered.  _And I don't know how you can be so cheery after he tried to kill us, Masaki._

Masaki pretended not to hear him as he asked Sho to take off his suit jacket and his tie. "Relax, mayor. You're not in the office anymore."

Sho chuckled sending a frisson of desire through Jun and Masaki. "Please don't worry about me. Are you two recovering well?"

_This douchebag, I swear..._  Jun hammered a slice of meat much harder than needed to tenderise it.  _Pretending like nothing ever happened._

"Yes, we're doing fine as you can see," Masaki replied. "You can put Kitty down. She can have a run around the garden downstairs if she wants. It's gated so she won't wander far."

"Ahh... Yes, I think Kitty will like that," Sho nuzzled at his kitten. 

"But before that, why don't you put this on her," Masaki took out a sparkling pink collar from his pocket. "Nino said you dropped it at the store when the blackout happened."

"Ahh... Yes," Sho took the collar and immediately put it on Kitty. "Now I can find her easily with the bell. I'll just put her in the garden first yeah. Dinner smells amazing."

Jun and Aiba exchanged glances as the mayor went down to their garden while cooing his pretty little grey blob. At the grill, Ohno held a large plate for the cooked meat for a silent Nino. The beta and pack money maker still refused to talk to his mate. 

"So is the food ready?" Sho asked he came up. "I'm starving."

"Yeah, have a seat here," Masaki pulled out a chair from a round table next to the grill. "Let's eat. So did we miss anything interesting in town, mayor?"

"Well, there is this one thing..." Sho began as he took his seat. Throughout dinner Jun found out that the mayor was quite the perfect guest. He never seemed to run out of things to say that he almost didn't realise that Nino and Ohno were still not talking to each other. And the mayor was so charming, even Jun almost cracked a smile when he told a particularly funny happening. Almost.

"Now it's time for dessert," Masaki clapped his hands as he bounced towards the hamper Sho brought earlier. "You must be dying for something sweet, mayor, seeing you so close to stripping naked."

Jun grinned wide at that. So he had added a bit more wasabi and chilli to Sho's portion and suspected Nino did too. Right now, Sho had rolled up his sleeves, untucked his shirt and undo some of his shirt buttons as he kept wiping off the sweat on his forehead.

"You guys like your food spicy huh," Sho managed before coughing and taking a huge gulp of his cold water. "That was no joke."

"You should've said something earlier," Masaki brought the honeydew he just cut into big dices and the box of artisan chocolate to the other seating area on the porch. "Come here, everyone. It's more comfortable." All four of them walked over to the cushy seats.

The chocolate just like Sho's watch and car screamed expensive, Jun noted also recalling the mayor's bags. 

"Now mayor, say ahh..." Masaki said as he picked a piece of chocolate and brought it close to Sho's lips.

Sho turned his head away. "I'll just get one myself." He reached out to the box at the same time as Jun and halted just before their hands touched. "After you..." He pulled his hand back a tad too quickly and let Jun take a piece first.

Jun did not miss the slight narrowing of Sho's eyes behind his thick black-rimmed glasses. Interesting. He began running his memories for any instances of them touching. Or the mayor touching anyone for that matter. There was that one time he pulled the mayor's hand to make him step on the outdoor security tower platform to show him the view of the border. The day he found out Sho had a fear of height... and the night his wet dreams of the mayor began.

_Masaki, when did you first touch the mayor?_

_Hmm... I never did._ Masaki looked questioningly at his mate.  _Oh wait. Remember when he brought Kitty in for a check up? I think our hands might brushed each other's when he handed me the kitten._

_That's about a month after I took him to the tower._  Jun quickly processed the information.  _When did you start having dreams of him?_

_Well..._  Masaki paused as he gave it a thought.  _Right around that time, I think, but I saw glimpses of your sexy dreams when you moaned during your sleep, so I could be wrong. By the way, Jun, his guard is down, I can feel it._

_Good job. Go on as you please, mate. If my suspicion is right, I don't think he will touch you._

Masaki smiled as he approached the now sitting mayor. He sent a conspiratorial look at Nino who had Ohno distracted with trying to appease him with the dessert. 

Jun nearly licked his lips seeing Sho's neck exposed as he rested his head back on the plush outdoor sofa with his eyes closed. They might not know what Sho Sakurai really was, but it seemed even he wasn't immune to Masaki's ability to slowly lull any beasts and animals to be putty in his hands. An ability which came naturally to the pack's healer. 

"Sho..." Masaki began softly.

"Hmm...?" Sho sighed before his eyes snapped open when he felt Masaki straddling him. "What the... What are you doing, Aiba?" 

It did not go unnoticed by Masaki and Jun that the mayor slipped his hands under his thighs.  _You're right, Jun. He doesn't want to touch me._

"Now now Sho," Masaki took off the mayor's glasses and flicked it to Jun. "You think we forgot what you did to us?"

Sho threw a panicked look at Ohno who finally caught up with what was going on around him and Nino.  _They're not supposed to recall anything, Satoshi._

Nino twisted Ohno's arms behind his back. His eyes gleamed with amber. "We promised to not keep secrets from each other, my dear alpha. Don't you dare stop them, Satoshi, because I want to know too, you prick," he whispered for Ohno's ears only.

Ohno knew when he was defeated. He had held on to the secret for too long.  _Sho, I trust Nino, Jun and Masaki with my life. Just tell them. They can be trusted and I don't want anyone to get hurt. And we don't want this to get out further than this._

"Sho..." Jun purred as he ran his fingers along the edge of Sho's unbuttoned shirt as he stood behind him. Sho stopped breathing. "Why don't you tell us what you are, red eyes?" His nails turned to claws, plucking the buttons one by one. "You might not accept us, but you don't want to hurt us, do you, Sho?" He lowered to blow on Sho's left ear. "Mate."

Sho let out a harsh breath. "Don't touch me, Jun," the veins in his neck popped out as Masaki leaned down to gently blow his right ear. "I need to leave now. Where's Kitty?"

Jun growled. "Why do you keep running away?"

"Let me leave, Masaki," Sho said softly. "Don't trap me into this."

Masaki met the mayor's eyes, now dull as if his will to live had left him.  _Jun, I can't do this to him._  He pulled back giving room for the mayor to stand. "Kitty is coming up the stairs right now."

"Thank you," Sho turned to face both Masaki and an angry and confused Jun who had released him reluctantly. "I'm not something you want as a third. I will just destroy the beautiful bond you two have." 

For a brief moment Jun and Masaki were awash with a feeling of despair and hopelessness before it disappeared.  _Like always_ , they had heard the ghost of Sho's thought in their minds. _Like always._


	7. Want

 

 

"Now that we've got the cameras installed, we'll see if they can add anything to support the town's security," the mayor stood up as he drew the month's security meeting to a close. "Especially the borders with the trolls and contraband smugglers." The rest of the attendees raised from their seats as well. "Thank you very much for your input, concerns and suggestions, everyone. We'll meet again next month. Take care and stay safe."

Murmurs and nods of farewells filled the conference room at the mayor's building before gradually dropping to silence leaving the mayor to face the Arashi Council. 

"I thought that went very well," Sho said as packed his tablet into his briefcase. 

"Yes, it did," Ohno replied. "It has been a while since the people contributed to the security discussion."

Nino snorted. "Never, you meant. They just left it to the weres," he raised an eyebrow, "As they should, by the way."

"Kazu, don't be like that," Ohno took his beta's hand in his. "We can't afford to think like that anymore."

"Well, if there's nothing else..." Sho said ready to leave. 

"Have dinner with us tonight, Sho," Masaki stood up. "Jun's a great cook."

"I'm sorry, but I have to decline the offer," Sho looked at his watch. "If there is nothing else, I've got to get Kitty and go home."

"Fine, keep running away, Sho," Jun's low tone had Sho turning his head to him. "But know that we'll keep chasing until you can't run anymore."

"Jun, Masaki, just give up," Sho replied gently. "Both of you are mistaken. Don't destroy what you have for a belief that there is something greater out there. There isn't."

"We're not going to let you die just yet!" Masaki shook as he struggled to keep calm. "Not before you give us a chance to be together, Sho."

Sho's accusing eyes met the alpha's clear stare. "You told them, Satoshi."

"I think you should give them a chance. They believe you're their third," Ohno simply said.

"Have you told them I have a tendency to rip my partners to shreds after I'm done with them? Have them screaming as they feel their heads were about to explode as they groveled at my feet?" Sho gave a harsh laugh as he saw the grimace on the faces of the other three council members. "Or is that why you want this for them? Keeping your hands clean as I do the dirty job of getting rid of them."

"No!" Nino shouted as Ohno paled.

"You should've been more honest, Satoshi," Sho merciless taunt continued. "Say the word and I'll kill them right now."

"No! Stop it, Sakurai!" the beta hugged his alpha tightly. Jun and Masaki couldn't move as they stared at the red eyes gleaming behind the mayor's glasses. "Stop it, you sick bastard!"

Sho's mocking laughter chilled their bones. "Fine. He's fine." Whatever seemed to hold the weres immobile gave way. "This never happened."

"You know that doesn't work with us," Masaki bit out. "You cannot erase our memories."

"Good. Then you can keep reminding yourselves why you should stop with the mate nonsense and get on with your lives," Sho grabbed his briefcase and walked over to the exit. "Have a good day, gentlemen." 

 

***

Jun was still fuming as he finished putting the china and crystals back onto their shelves. Masaki shut the drawer after putting in the cutlery they had used for dinner. The mayor's comment still rattled him hours after the meeting had ended.

"Jun, do you want to fuck?" Masaki hugged him from behind. "Fate help me, Sho is a sick bastard, but damn if he didn't make me want it hard."

His mate turned around and licked his neck. "Then that made us as sick as him," Jun bit Masaki's left earlobe. "Do you think he dreams about fucking us hard and rough as he claims us? Do you think he can see us in his mind, calling his name as we fuck now?"

Masaki growled with lust as Jun kissed him hard. "Sho..." his eyes clouded with desire as they parted for breath. "Fuck me."

"That's right, Sho," Jun tore Masaki's shirt and threw the pieces away, revealing his mate's darkened patch of skin on his left shoulder and his erect nipples. "Fuck me."

Masaki was about to rip Jun's shirt open when three words stopped him and had Jun's eyes widened in shock.

_Don't._

_Tempt._

_Me._

 


	8. Sick

 

 

 

 

"What do you mean he called in sick?" Jun asked incredulous.

"Mayor Sakurai said he wasn't feeling very well," Sara replied, "I was as surprised as you were when I checked the voicemail earlier. Guess he is human after all." 

"And here I thought he was a robot or something," a male staff quipped as he handed a large envelop to Sara. "I suppose we can relax a bit today."

Then another three people came into the reception area making Jun uncomfortable. He never noticed this many people working here when he came by to update the mayor on anything following the full moon night. Unless Sho hired new people when Jun didn't come in last month.

"The mayor would make us pay if we slack now guys," one of the newcomers said, "His bite is worse than his bark."

"But I still find it hard to believe he's sick. He was fine yesterday and we all know how fit he is..." a suggestive drawl followed by a lewd noise of agreement from the staff nearly had Jun punching them all in the guts. "Maybe I should check up on the mayor later, you know, to see if Kitty is fed and stuff."

"Or you're just hoping another pussy will get some serious stuffing!" The room exploded with laughter.

"I'll get Aiba to drop by his house later so you don't have to," Jun said with a straight face. He was not amused. "Good day." The room was silent when he left.

_Masaki, what are you doing now?_

_Just finished healing an injured pup_ , Masaki replied. _Poor thing got a stick going through her foot on her first night in the forest. What's up?_

_Sho didn't come to office. Sick, they said._

_No way. I saw no sign of him being si..._ Masaki paused as fear crept up on him. _Jun, you don't think he...?_

_I don't want to think about it. I'll meet you at his house, okay._

_Okay_. Masaki took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. Sho is okay..." His key chain trembled as he clicked the car key to unlock his car. "Please let him be okay."

 

***

 

Jun stood outside the mayor's three-storey house with a grim look on his face when Masaki arrived. He tried to connect his mind with Sho again, but nothing. Neither Jun nor Masaki heard Sho's voice in their heads since he left them the three words of warning. They were sure it was Sho, but he never showed up again. Not when they cried out his name whenever they fucked, not when they called out in their minds to him when they saw him around town, and not when they willed him to join them at the height of the full moon.

"Jun?" Masaki placed a hand on his mate's shoulder. "Have you..."

"No, I haven't. I was waiting for you," Jun was about to hug Masaki when the sound of tyres crunching gravel can be heard coming their way. In moments they saw a familiar old pickup truck and its occupants looked surprised to see them. "Alpha?"

"Nino?" Masaki drew closer to Jun as the couple exited their car. "What are you two doing here?"

"So I guess you guys heard that Sho is sick, huh," Nino said looking slightly angry. 

"I found out from his secretary," Jun said.

"That's nice. Unlike some of us who found out when they caught their beloved mate sneaking out on them after promising not to keep secrets from each other," Nino glared at Ohno. "Again."

"I didn't mean to..."

"Shut up old man," the beta did not go easy on the wincing alpha. "If he wants you to kill him, then kill him already."

"NO!" Jun and Masaki shouted in unison, eyes turning amber.

"Don't even think about it," Jun bit out slowly. 

Ohno pulled Nino to stand behind him. "Calm down. I'm just here to check up on Sakurai." He waited until Jun and Masaki's eyes turned back to their natural colour. "I can let us in without destroying his house."

"Fucking filth," Nino muttered earning him a harsh contact with the ground.

Ohno's claws dug into the back of Nino's neck as his eyes turned an eerie blend of silver and blue. "Behave Kazu or you're not coming in with us."

Nino coughed. "Yes, Alpha." He wiped the blood off as his torn skin healed itself when Ohno let him go. "I will not harm Sakurai."

"Good," Ohno gave a quick peck on Nino's forehead. "But wash your hands before we go down the basement. I don't want any trace of blood to trigger him." 

Nino nodded without saying anything. Ohno's eyes remained cold as Jun and Masaki tensed before him.

"I don't know what we'll find inside the house, but do not shift unnecessarily," Ohno said calmly. "And if you are his mates as you claimed to be, Matsumoto, Aiba," he looked at the pair one by one, "Do not turn away from him."

Apprehension rose in the three weres standing around the pack leader.  

"You turn your backs on him and I will do as he wished," Ohno straightened his back. "I will kill him."

 

 


	9. Past

 

 

  
**NEVER FORGET**

 

**KILLER**

Another three words which made Jun and Masaki stopped in their tracks. Behind them, Nino swore when he too read the bold letters, roughly etched into the thick stone pillar greeting them in the hidden second basement.

Ohno fell into a grim silence as his eyes scrutinised the markings all over the stone. The pillar was not there when he finished the house. When he opened the door to the mayor's house, he was disheartened to see only a robot vacuum buzzing about a huge empty room. They found many unopened crates in the first basement as he led them through the cold unwelcoming house.

"What is the meaning of this?" Nino whispered as he walked around the pillar. "These names and numbers, what are they?"

Ohno's clenched his fists when he recognised some of the names. "You guys don't have to go further than this." There was another door they had to go through. A very secured room where Ohno was sure they would find the mayor.

Jun ran his fingers on the bumps and grooves on the pillar. "Alpha Ohno, are these the names and ages of people Sho killed?" There were men, women and foreign names. "All of them?" And children. Kids. Babies.

"No, no..." Masaki's eyes watered as he turned to Ohno. "Can't be... It can't be... Just because he's half-were, he can't... No..."

Jun's palms were cold when he pulled Masaki into an embrace. He didn't know who needed more comforting, him or Masaki.

"Satoshi..." Nino took Ohno's clenched fists in his. "You've told us Sakurai is here to die because he's tired of living. That he only agreed to be the temporary mayor until we found a replacement. That he has werewolf blood in him. Werewolves do not kill humans. But this..."

"I don't know what to say," Ohno began. "Kazu, please don't hate me. I... We..."

Nino tightened his hold on Ohno's fists. "What else are you not telling us, Satoshi? Why did you let a psychopath into this town?"

Ohno took a deep breath and shuddered as he exhaled. "He is better now. He doesn't kill anymore. He hasn't killed anyone in a very long time."

"What is he, mate?" Nino persisted. Jun and Masaki had gone to sit side by side on the stairs as they tried to comprehend Sho's dark past. Jun kept staring at the pillar while Masaki continued looking at Ohno waiting for answers.

"Don't hate me, Kazu," Ohno put his forehead on Nino's shoulder. "It was a long time ago. Well before any of you were born and I was exiled. Banished for being weak. Son to the alpha, but couldn't even shift into a were. Useless."  He felt Nino's hand patting the back of his head gently. "Some of those names were mine. I was a monster too." The hand on his head paused. "Never a day goes by without me asking for forgiveness for what we had done."

"Alpha, I think you should tell us everything that happened before you returned to the pack before we go into that door," Jun said in the serious tone he used with his enforcement team. "If I think he is dangerous, I will kill him myself."

Masaki looked away at his mate's declaration. He felt the heavy reluctance and sadness, yet determination behind those words.

"I think we should sit down first," Nino pulled Ohno down so their backs were supported by the wall. "I won't hate you, Satoshi. I have never known you to be a monster."

Ohno let out a hollow laugh. "But I was, Kazu, I was. I didn't stop him. I couldn't. If only I was stronger..."

Nino, Aiba and Jun never knew their alpha as anything other than powerful. His small human stature and gentle demeanor had deceived many challengers to his alpha status when he first assumed the position. Weres can live for a thousand years and only the last hundred years or so had the town seen peace when everyone knew that Alpha Ohno was not one to be taken for a fool.

Nino and Aiba recalled the moment Ohno returned from his exile. It was the day Nino discovered his bonding call. It was also the day Ohno killed the former alpha. Jun swore loyalty to the clan when he moved to the town a decade later, when the civil war within the clan was at its worst.

"I was wandering for years before I met Sho," Ohno recalled, "Attacked by him was more like it. I only got away because he was startled by my shift." His hand cupped the left side of his neck. "I could still feel the pain of my flesh being torn away with his teeth and my blood being sucked here. Near death triggered my were."

"Blood?" Nino asked. "He's not merely of were blood, is he?"

Ohno shook his head. "No, he isn't," a choked laugh escaped him. "He didn't even know what he was back then. It wasn't until much later that we pieced together what he is." He pointed at the first names under the word killer on the huge stone. "Read what that said."

Jun walked to the pillar for a closer look as the etchings were already faded as if someone kept running their fingers on them. "Sa... Sakurai Sh... Sakurai Y... Sa..ku..rai... Ma... Saku..." He paused as he read the final name. "They're all Sakurais."

"They were his family. His first kill," Ohno heard Masaki's deep intake of breath. "And he didn't even know why. He woke up one day surrounded by blood and scattered remains of his family and just went crazy."

"Did he know it was him?" Masaki exhaled a shaky breath.

Ohno shook his head. "He hated the world and killed anyone and their families who he suspected of murdering his family."

"When did he know?" Jun went back to the stairs and patted Masaki's back.

"He already knew before I met him," Ohno continued as he remembered the one time Sho let him in on his past. Sho had hunted him down after his escape and only kept him close to observe the shifting process. "Convinced he was a monster and nothing can be done about it, he just kept on killing and getting much better at it. Never caught even when he became more brutal with his ways." Ohno closed his eyes. "And like a fool, I followed him. I wanted to be strong like him so I can come back and punish the clan, but I regret it now. All the people's lives... I just... If only..."  _Please don't hate me Kazu._

Nino squeezed Ohno's hands as tears welled in his eyes. He couldn't believe his kind mate was still tormented by his past. This was a side of Ohno he did not know. _I love you Satoshi. You are not who you were in the past. And we can't turn back time. You're a good man now, Satoshi. A great and wise leader._

"We gradually stopped when we learned to read," Ohno managed a weak smile. "We came across a school one day and Sho was intrigued with what the children were reading out loud from their books. Having restricted our contact with humans only for killing and games, we were slow to keep up with the technology back then."

"That explains the huge library and schools you built when the town settled down from the war even when you hate reading books," Masaki said of the alpha's construction priorities to revive the town.

"Yes, I don't like reading much, but Sho was different. He has always been smart and it wasn't long before learning became his obsession," Ohno couldn't help be amused by the memory of having to drag Sho out from libraries and wherever books were available. "And making lots of money so he can buy more books and build bigger places to fit them in. A lot of the books in our town's library was from him. Even this house has a wing dedicated to being his library."

"Did you find out what he is from the books?" Jun was getting impatient. "What is he? He's practically human. Him being half-were explains why he's still alive now and still looks like he's thirty. I thought he could be a vampire as he sucked blood, but he can walk around in daylight and it is impossible for a vampire to mate with a were."

"Sho is great with research. And you almost got it, Jun."

"He's half-vampire? That doesn't make sense."

"A quarter. His dad was a dhampir and his mom a were-gene carrier. Sho believed his parents did not even know they were not fully human. And he an unfortunate mutant."  
   
"But we can't sense his were or the vampire at all," Jun said confused. Being a pack enforcer, he was attuned to the different species and behavioural traits. 

"When I was called to return here by my father, Sho was doing experiments to control the monster in him," Ohno replied as he stood up. "We didn't speak through our mind link after the war ended until fifteen years ago when I asked his advice to fix the town's economy."

"He helped with the war strategy and the anonymous angel investing in my company and many other is him, isn't it?" Nino said as he and the other couple rose up as well. "I always wonder how you suddenly become such a whiz with the modern business environment and technology trends. I thought you had an epiphany, turned out it was him."   
   
"I'm not that smart and he is very helpful. He made me promised not to tell anyone."

"And he got the mind link because he drank your blood?"

"I don't know. He seems to have some special vampire psychic power. Like compulsion or something."

Nino gave a contemplative look at his best friend. "So it is possible that he's not really your third, Masaki. He's just playing with both of your minds."

"No!" Masaki shook his head. "We know he's our mate, right, Jun?"

Jun remained silent as he let go of Masaki's hand in his.

"Jun...?" 

"Alpha Ohno, you said Sakurai wants you to kill him, right?" Jun kept a straight face. "No death or harm to the town's people yet, but could it be that he knew he could no longer control the monster in him?"

Ohno circled the pillar searching for the end of the list of names. "It seems like he had not killed in a while. Before I left him, he was already restricting himself from taking blood." 

"You think his blood lust could return with a vengeance and he could be worse than before?" Jun's eyes narrowed. "More dangerous?"

Ohno squared his shoulders. "Yes. He suspects as much. It was the reason for this house and his request. He can't do any damage with me here to look over him and kill him if need be."

"Jun, you're not seriously going to kill Sho, are you?" Masaki made Jun meet his eyes. "Sho is our mate. Our third." 

Jun did not reply. 

"Calm down, Aiba," Ohno said as he stood in front of the door into Sho's secret lair. "I don't want Sho to die either. He's family and I owe him my life."

"But he tried to kill you, Satoshi," Nino reminded his mate.

"We spent a long time together and Sho had saved me more often than I can count. He is the reason the town is still alive today." Ohno inserted his pointing finger into the door's keyhole and felt the expected prick. The door unlocked with finger identity and DNA-recognition technology.

"And because the fool is too damn stubborn to ask for help and feels too guilty to seek his own happiness. I can't let him die like that," he turned around to see the other three weres behind him. 

The door gave a click. 

"Come, let's see what the idiot has done to himself."   

 

 

~~~


	10. Bound

 

 

 

  
The door opened to a small empty bedroom.

"Sho is not here," Jun stated the obvious as they looked at the dimly-lit space with only a single bed and three water bottles on the floor.

Ohno didn't say anything as he went straight to the adjacent wall with a metre-long slim LED light as the room's light source. The trio stood beside their alpha as Ohno seemed to mentally prepared himself for something. "I just made these rooms, not what's inside them." His fingers trembled slightly as he grabbed hold of the three-inch wide light frame and flipped it up.

"Holy shit," Nino gasped as it revealed a glass window and another room behind it. "That's a fucking guillotine!"

"Is that Sho?" Masaki whispered as they saw a bound man lying on the guillotine. Still alive.

"How do we get in there?" Jun's eyes darted all over the wall trying to find the opening. "I thought the fucker wanted you to kill him."

Ohno closed his eyes briefly as he put down the light frame. _Sakurai, you bastard!_

"Alpha, we need to get him out of there," Jun raised his voice as he felt around the wall for anything to get into the room.

"Under the bed. There's a touchpad..."

Jun was already under the bed. "Password!"

"343669," Ohno said clearly. "Die now," he muttered to himself.

"Done!" Jun quickly got out from under the bed and watched as a gap began to open from the left side of the wall.

"Do not shift," Ohno reminded them sternly tasting tension in the air. "Do not do anything stupid. I don't know what he does in there."

 "His heart is beating fast," Masaki said as he concentrated on sensing Sho's condition. The wall was moving slowly. "Much too fast for a human."

"There are seven layers of bulletproof fiberglass sliding panels within this wall. They're going to take time opening," Ohno said as Jun stood waiting in front of the gap. "It can open up to a metre, but I expect Sho to tweak it."

"There must be a way to speed them up," Jun jumped a few times to release his some of his tense energy.

"You'd have to ask him that yourself."

"I think inside is his lab and panic room," Nino said as he looked through the narrow glass window again. "We have to disable the blade first. Sakurai must have prepared a trigger to make it fall. It could be his heart rate if he shifts." He continued to note the visible solid metal bands around the mayor's ankles, wrists and forehead. Most of Sho's face and neck were hidden by the guillotine column and a white blanket covered his torso and legs. "Does he shift?"

"No, not a full shift," Ohno replied. "He can shift anytime, but during full moon it's involuntary."

"But his control of his beastly instinct is slipping if he had to tie himself up like that," Jun said as he sized up the gap to see if it's big enough for him to enter already. "Okay, I'm going in."

Masaki followed close behind. "Oh Sho..." He suddenly felt a strong mental push for them to leave. "No, let us help you, mate."

Jun swore. Sho had himself blindfolded with a black velvet strip with his mouth forced open by a steel ball gag making sure his vampiric fangs couldn't touch. There were four sensor pads attached on his chest with wires running to the machinery next to the guillotine and the blanket was hiding a solid metal bracket over his abdomen to his knees effectively making him unable to sit up even if he had broke through the other metal bands.

"Calm down, Sho," Masaki put his right palm on Sho's chest, directly above his heart. "Calm down, mate." His left hand soothing the hot tense muscles from the neck, to his right sloping shoulder to his still bound arm while he kept an eye on one of the machine. "That's it. Breathe." He also struggled to keep his breathing steady as he saw the numbers on the monitor changing with Sho's heart beat and body temperature. He needed the numbers to fall within the average range for humans. He met Nino's eyes as they both knew what would trigger the blade to cut Sho's neck off.

Nino was already studying to find the connection to disable the blade. "Where did he put it?"

"Alpha, is it safe to remove his blindfold and the gag?" Jun asked as he gently ran his fingers through Sho's sweat-dampened hair, at a loss of what to do. Sho thrashed within his bindings and Masaki continued to coo him to be at ease. "Alpha Ohno?"

Ohno stood away from the guillotine with his eyes closed.

_Kill me now, Satoshi._

_Let us help you, Sho. Look at Matsumoto and Aiba. They did not turn away from you._

_You know it's only a matter of time. They won't be able to handle it eventually. Or I'm the one who will end up killing them. Never. Never again, Satoshi._

_This bond you three have is something special, my friend. Your soul and spirit recognise them. Need them._

_Miracles don't happen to me, Satoshi._

_Stop being foolish and see them around you. Look at Jun Matsumoto and Masaki Aiba. Feel them wanting you to stay. Listen to their call to be with you._

_I crave their blood, Satoshi. Kill me or I will kill them._

"You can take them off, Matsumoto," Ohno said as he opened his eyes. "Careful of his fangs."

_You idiot!_  Sho squinted when the velvet was gently peeled away from his eyes. He could hear Jun's soft gasp even if his red eyes were still unseeing after more than a day without light. His fangs sharpened as the rush of blood in Jun's veins seduced him.

"Sho, I'm going to take off your gag now," Jun steeled himself as the red eyes came into focus and the fangs became more pointed.

"Calm down, Sho," Masaki whispered as he planted a kiss on Sho's sternum. "We got you, mate."

Jun carefully unfastened the gag while making sure to stay clear from Sho's fangs. Sho coughed when the gag no longer blocked his mouth.

"What did you say?" Jun gently wiped the drool around Sho's lips, thankful the metal band on his forehead kept his face steady. 

"Fuck off," Sho managed between his erratic breathing and his tense jaw. "Leave."

Jun saw the emotions warring in the pair of red eyes. Anger and fear. Sho's anger at himself and fear for them. "Sho. Mate," Jun whispered as he pressed his lips in between Sho's eyes, "You're not a monster anymore."

_You don't understand_. Jun and Masaki jerked as Sho's voice touched their minds again.  _I can't do this anymore. I'm too weak_. 

"Do you need our blood?" Masaki asked knowing that was how vampires replenish their strength.

"NO!" Sho's heart beat went up causing a soft piano sound to fill the room as the white light changed to blue.

"Jun, grab hold of the blade or something!" Nino shouted. He was sure it was the first alarm. "Masaki, do whatever you can to calm him down." He turned to Ohno. "Old man, make yourself useful. Where is the damn stop button? There must be one somewhere."

 "Sho, how do we stop this?" Jun knew there was no way he could stop the blade from the way it was designed. "Let us help you." It was useless to pretend that he could kill their mate even though they knew Sho could be dangerous if he lost control. "I am willing to give my blood to you. Drink from me."

Sho groaned. The offer was very tempting, yet he knew once he had a taste he would want more.  _Why? I am nothing to you._

The room suddenly turned orange. Ohno pulled a startled Masaki away from the bound man on the platform. "Damn you, Sakurai." He shifted into his were form and clawed Sho's exposed neck so fast Jun didn't even have time to react.

"NO!" Masaki's anguish scream echoed a few seconds after the room turned white and the piano stopped playing. "What have you done?!" His voice trembling with pain. "What have you done?"


	11. Tear

 

  
"He deserved that."

Masaki pulled back immediately as Sho chuckled. Jun turned wide-eyed, clawed hand still fisted, at the amused laughter as Ohno sprawled naked on the floor groaning. Nino froze as the metal bands clicked open and Sho pulled the white blanket covering his torso to wipe at the blood splatter on his face, neck and chest.

"You're really good, Aiba. Not even a scratch anymore," Sho sat up after the metal plate on his torso flipped open. "Ohno, you really don't have to tear my neck when Ninomiya already disabled the machine." He threw the bloodied blanket to the alpha. "I'll get you something to wear."

"What the fuck?" Jun managed as Sho took off the sensor pads on his chest, wriggled his toes and flexed his grey sweatpants-covered legs."What's going on?"

"I saw you smirked, asshole!" Ohno tied the blanket around his hips having returned to his human form with a painful black eye. "It's not funny, Sakurai."

Sho laughed even more as he hop off the guillotine and walked past a flinching Nino to grab his neatly folded t-shirt on a study table. "It was a drill, though I was only expecting you."  

"A drill?" Masaki finally said something, lifting up his bloodied hands from healing Sho's torn neck moments ago. "This was all an act?"

"Yup," Sho grinned as his head emerged from his t-shirt collar, "I should get a best actor award or something." He came closer to Nino and offered a hand. "It wasn't that hard to find the stop button hidden in the floor, right?"

Nino slapped Sho's hand away. "Fucking jerk!" He stood up and left the room without glancing back. 

"Masaki, let's go," Jun gave Sho a disgusted look. "Go to hell, Sakurai."

Sho shrugged as Masaki wordlessly followed Jun out the basement. "I'll tell Hades you sent your regards," he said with a mocking wave.

"You are really hateful, Sakurai," Ohno settled on a plush chair in one corner of the room where Jun and Masaki's combined retribution landed him. "Damn it. You froze me for them to hit me. The pain is not going to go away soon, Aiba made sure of that." He touched his black eye gingerly before a chuckle escaped him. "But it felt so good tearing your neck out."

Sho burst out laughing again. "A little consolation for your inconvenience, Satoshi," he took out two bottles of cold water from a refrigerator tucked under the guillotine and handed one to Ohno. " _Salud._ " 

The glass bottles clinked with Ohno still wincing. "To our fucking health."

 

 

***

 

Meanwhile, dying shrieks and loud clicks filled Jun and Masaki's cozy open-planned living and kitchen area. Nino gritted his teeth as his fingers worked the game console to slay all the monsters in the flat screen tv when Masaki finally emerged from his bath.

In the kitchen, Jun seemed deaf to the world as he kneaded a huge ball of flour on the counter with more force than necessary. Masaki took a seat on the opposite side of the counter and stared at the flour getting into shape. Long minutes went by without any of them saying a word.

A cheery ringtone jarring the moment was swiftly muted with a loud thud to the wall. "You can fucking die for all I care, stupid old man!"

Jun let out a long sigh as he put his perfectly-rounded dough in a big bowl and covered it with a damp tea towel. Then he tipped Masaki's chin up so their eyes met. "Never again, Masaki. Never again."

Masaki's eyes filled with tears as he nodded. _It hurts, Jun. It hurts._

 

***

A fully dressed Ohno plopped down on the sofa in Sho's spacious kitchen. "Damn it, Sho. Because of you I'll be sleeping in a cold lonely bed again tonight," he put down his smartphone after he kept getting Nino's voicemail. "I hate you."

"Get a cat," Sho grinned as Kitty purred in his arms. "Cats are so much cuter too."

 "I can't believe I totally fell for it. Knowing you for all these centuries, you cunning bastard," Ohno whined, "I can't believe it. I totally thought you're going to kill yourself."

"Drills are good to prepare for emergency situations. Besides, I'm not going anywhere until I've finished training my successors for the town mayor position," Sho joined him on the sofa. The kitchen was the only room furnished aside from the underground lab, the master bedroom and the library in the big house as Kitty liked to hang out in the sunny and airy kitchen. "I keep my promises, Satoshi."

"And then what?"

"Then I can leave the world."

"Seriously Sho," Ohno straightened up. "What about Matsumoto and Aiba?"

"They probably hate me now and won't want to do anything with me ever again," Sho shrugged. "The better for them really since you've told them everything already."

Ohno didn't say anything while Sho played peek-a-boo with Kitty, looking carefree and harmless. "They can be your anchor, Sho," he said gently, "Your mates can keep you from losing control like Kazu is to me." 

A sad smile appeared on Sho's lips. "Perhaps so, Satoshi," he said as he stood up with Kitty on his shoulder. "But I may be too much of a burden and drown them instead."    
 

~~~  
 


	12. Leave

For the past four months, the first Wednesdays were a torture for Jun and Masaki. They could have easily closed the shop rather than wait for Sho and his grey blob to come in, but here they were both pretending to check their accounts behind the counter.

  
They could handle Sho's presence in public and in professional capacity, but they had been avoiding being with him alone after the drill he did. Except on the first Wednesday of the month when he came by to restock Kitty's food.

Today they were steeling themselves for what could be a long shopping trip as they knew Sho was going on a long summer vacation. Heck, the whole town was buzzing about the mayor's three-month long holiday. Some thought it was too much a luxury for a mayor, some worried the town would not run as smoothly when he was away, and some feared that he wouldn't return. Sho just smiled about the town's misgivings and simply said the town would be fine with his trained staff, and that he needed the break as he overworked himself to get the town organised and efficient after decades without a mayor.

4:59.

5:00.

The door opened. Jun and Masaki did not greet their expected customer. However, unlike his routine of going to the cat food aisle, Sho stopped at the counter startling the couple.

"You offer boarding for pets, right?" Sho asked as he put a stuffed bag and Kitty on the counter.

Masaki looked up in surprise only to see his reflection on the black opaque lenses of Sho's oversized sunglasses. "Yes... Yes we do."

"Great. I'd like to leave Kitty here for a week," Sho said never taking off his sunglasses already shadowed by the trucker cap he wore much to Jun's irritation. Jun knew it was summer, but Sho's penchant for wearing the two accessories even during their last security meeting pissed him off.

"Where are you going?" Jun asked harshly.

"No where. Just doing some stuff at the house," Sho replied calmly.

"What? Another of your fucking drill?" Jun sneered. Oh, how he hated Sho for playing with them the first and only time they were at his house.

"How much would it be for a night?" Sho ignored the questions as Kitty nuzzled at his neck.

_As if he needed reassurance or shit. Stupid blob._  Jun narrowed his eyes at the kitten as he relayed his thoughts to Masaki.

"$50," Masaki more than inflated their usual price. 

Sho nodded and reached for his wallet. "$350, yeah?"

Unusually the door opened again.

And even more unusual was the alpha and his mate coming in and locking the door behind them.

"Shit, what the hell is going on?" Jun instantly became suspicious.

Sho seemed unaffected as he gave a thick bundle of hundred dollar notes to a reluctant Masaki. "Extras just in case."

"Just in case of what?" Masaki asked quietly as Nino came around the counter and pushed a button to draw the drapes blocking the sunlight from coming in. Nino gave his best friend's store a major security overhaul and some smart upgrades after the incidents with Sho, and charged an exorbitant amount to the mayor. Sho had paid without batting an eyelash.

"Summer is tough with the looooooong bright sunny days, eh, mayor," Nino sat on a tall stool where Jun usually sat. Jun would've thrown him off the chair had he not trained his eyes on Sho and began noticing things.

"Kazu..." Ohno shook his head before turning to Sho. "Let's talk for a bit, Sakurai."

"I'm just going on a vaca..." Sho started but stopped when Kitty somehow jumped from his grasp and swiped his sunglasses off. "Damn cat," he scrunched his eyes shut with Kitty landing gracefully on the counter and then hopping on Masaki. "I need my glasses back," Sho felt around the counter, "Where is it?"

Nino smirked as he made the glasses magically disappeared. "It's gone." Other than being good with computers, Nino was also amazing with magic tricks.

"Damn it. Give it back to me, Ninomiya."

"Open your eyes so you can see that it is not here anymore."

"Ohno..." Sho let out an exasperated sigh. 

"Matsumoto, Aiba, can we use your underground safe room for a moment, please?" Ohno grabbed Sho's right wrist.

Jun raised an eyebrow. They used the safe room for treating wounded werewolves and keeping rogue werewolves under observation which could get violent and loud.  _Why?_

_That was an order, Matsumoto._

Jun straightened and led the way, surprised that Sho did not fight as he had expected.

"Thank you," Ohno said as he stopped Jun from entering the room. "You may leave now."

***

Jun was fuming when he returned to the ground floor. "What the hell is going on, Nino?"

"I'll tell you both after Masaki has put the cat in the cage," Nino replied while his fingers mess with the keyboard of the store's new computer. Jun only knew how to work it as a cash register while Masaki knew a bit more as he was more willing and took the time to learn from Nino. "The smart fluff deserves some treats."

"Okay, he's back. What is it?" Jun rushed as soon as Masaki re-entered the room.

Nino rolled his eyes. "Well," he waited until Masaki joined them behind the counter, "I don't know."

Pap! Jun slapped him on the head.

"Damn it, Jun!" Nino hissed. "At least take off your chunky rings first."

Jun gave him a finger, the skull ring on it looking sinister.

"Is Sho okay?" worry laced Masaki's question.

Jun held his tongue. He knew Masaki still had a soft spot for the mayor, still believed Sho was their mate even when he never said anything about it ever since the jerk pulled that act on them.

"Satoshi doesn't know either but feels uneasy about the douche bag," Nino answered, "and he thinks the Arashi Council needs to know what's going on as well." He smirked when the monitor showed his mate and the mayor in the basement. "Let the interrogation begin." 

 

 


	13. Still

 

 

"This better not be one of your games, Sakurai," Ohno said as he let go of Sho's wrist. "You can open your eyes now. No natural light in here."

"Is there somewhere to lie down here? Can you light a candle instead?" Sho had his arms out as if trying to feel his way around the room.

"Sakurai..." Ohno took a sharp breath when he saw Sho's eyes. "Can you see? There's an operating table here."

"Thanks," Sho said as he settled himself on the table. "Guess Aiba treats some of his patients here huh."

Jun, Masaki and Nino were taken aback when Sho's face appeared in high definition on the monitor upstairs. It was just a blink, but it was enough to see his eyes. They were red, but not the blood red they saw before. This time it looked like the red-eye effect on photographs. 

"Too bright, Ohno," Sho groaned and immediately put an arm on his eyes. "Switch off the light damn it."

_Any candles here, Aiba?_

_They're in the bottom green drawer, Alpha. The matches are in there too._

Ohno quickly took a candle out and lit it before switching off the light. The video camera automatically turned to the night vision mode for the audience in the store.

"Is that better?" Ohno said as he sat on a stool on Sho's left side.

"Yeah, thanks," Sho slowly opened his eyes. Masaki wished he could see more than just black and green to diagnose Sho's condition.

"Are you going blind? How is that possible?" Ohno cut to the chase. "I've never seen you like this."

"Yeah, going blind and deaf."

Ohno now understood why Sho didn't say anything about the red lights signalling the video cameras were recording them and them entering the store. "I can't connect with your mind."

"I blocked the mind link."

"Your lips are chapped, you're exhausted already and you look like shit," Ohno took off the truckers cap. Now nothing can distract from Sho's gaunt face. "You're not healing."

"Great timing for my vision to be gone," Sho chuckled.

"Not funny, Sakurai," Ohno was not in the mood for his long-time friend's twisted sense of humour. "Have you ran out of your artificial blood supply?"

"Yeah."

"When's your next supply coming in?"

"Next week."

"Ok. Where are you going for your vacation?"

"I'm going on a staycation." 

"Doing what exactly?"

"Stuff."

"Sakurai...' Ohno ran a hand through his hair. Sho was not volunteering the information he knew Ohno wanted. "What are you planning on doing for the next three months? Is it going to harm others?"

"No. I'll be holed up in my nice cool lab away from this hellish summer of yours," Sho said. "Not going to harm anyone else."

"But yourself? What experiments are you doing?"

Masaki looked thoughtful through the alpha and mayor's conversation. "Is he improving on the artificial blood? The current options we have are not exactly adequate."

Ohno relayed Masaki's observation.

Sho laughed. "Not adequate for humans, but I have some good enough for me. And I'm not going to waste my time when I already have people to do the tedious research in my hospitals and research departments in universities around the world."

He suddenly turned serious. "What I'm trying to do is break the bond."

The admission captured the four weres' attention. "What?" Ohno croaked.

"The bond. Soul mate thing or whatever. I want to break it."

"That's impossible."

 "Has anyone tried?"

"No because it's impossible and even more of a waste of time."

"Do all mates end up happy together?"

"Ye..." Ohno stuttered. "Err... No. But it is very very rare that mates turned out to be incompatible with each other."

"I thought so."

"Sakurai..."

"And I'm going through my supply faster than it can be replenished. I need to stop having to resist them."

"Them? You mean Matsumoto and Aiba?" Ohno asked carefully seeing Sho was now sharing more than he had expected.

"It got worse. I need more blood as the urge to claim them drained me of energy," Sho closed his eyes. "This is killing me. I'm starving, going blind and deaf, and can't go out in the sun for long."

"Just claim them already, idiot," Ohno snapped. "Why are you so stupid? You've accepted them as your mates, but you're holding yourself back? Age finally caught up with you, dumb ass?

"Ha...ha... Funny," Sho wheezed. "Shit..."

"Sho?!" Ohno grabbed hold of Sho's shoulders as the mayor seemed to have trouble breathing. "What do I do?"

"Will induce... coma... now..." Sho struggled to get the words out. "Dump... me... lab... go..." He closed his eyes and stopped moving.

"Sho?" Ohno shook the still body on the table. "Sho?"

"Is he okay?" Masaki burst in and immediately checked for Sho's pulse and his eyes. "Can he really induce coma on himself?"

"I guess..." Ohno looked confused as the room became bright again. "Maybe he learnt it after I returned here."

"Okay, then it must be so. We'll get him back to his lab," Jun said picking Sho up in his arms. "Let's go home, Sho. Let's go home, mate."

 


	14. Awake

 

  
_Seven_. Sho counted the empty shrunken blood packs on his lap as he wiped his lips with his right palm. _Damn, it's getting worse_. He was usually satisfied with just three packs after an induced coma.

"Sho, do you need more?"

The mayor lifted his head at the gentle question. "Who?"

"It's me, Masaki. You were asleep for six days," the healer replied as he stood calmly beside Sho's bed. "We gave you the blood as soon as they arrived."

Sho stiffened. "You're not supposed to be here. Where's Satoshi?"

"He's not coming," Jun growled. "Masaki and I going to take care of you from now on."

Sho gripped the bed sheet tight and shut his eyes as he was hit by a sudden craving for blood and sex with his mates. "Get the hell out of here!"

"No," Masaki placed a hand on Sho's right fist. "We won't ignore you again."

"No..." Sho tried to back away from Masaki only to feel Jun's arms slipped around his hips from behind. "No."

"Your experiments failed, Sho," Jun whispered. "We read your lab report. You tried blocking our mental connection, tried making us hate you, tried to convince us everything was just a trick of our minds, just your compulsion at work, and they failed."

Sho shook his head. "Not tr..." His denial was cut by Masaki's lips on his.

_Stop!_  Sho pulled his head back only to have Jun sucked on his bottom lip. _Leave!_

Two loud crashes jolted Sho's eyes open as Masaki and Jun were torn away from him. "Damn it," he stumbled off the bed in his haste to get to Masaki who had crashed on...  _Vinyl records?_  Sho immediately took a double take on his surrounding. It was not the lab, it was his bedroom.  _What the hell?_

"I'm okay," Masaki said as he brushed imaginary dust off himself. "But I think some of the records are broken. Jun?"

"I'm fine, but the books are going to give me some bruises for a bit," Jun grimaced as he picked himself up from a pile of books, newspapers and magazines. "Fuck, you're gorgeous Sho Sakurai," he swore at the man looking bewildered on the wooden floor. Naked.

Sho quickly flew the blanket to wrap around his body. "This is my room."

"We know," Masaki sat close to Sho. "We thought you'd be more comfortable on your super king size bed than the operating bed in your lab."

Jun sauntered across the big bed before landing in front of the still befuddled man. "You took your clothes off yourself, by the way. Do you always do that when you sleep?"

_This can't be real. Am I hallucinating? Another side-effect?_  Sho's mind ran amok with questions. He had observed his physical deterioration the longer he denied himself from claiming his mates. _Is it affecting my psyche now?_

_No, Sho, you are not going crazy._  Masaki's voice touched the mayor's mind.

_We're not going to follow your hypothesis_ , Jun smirked as Sho received his thoughts.  _We're not going to run away from you no matter how hard you tried to manipulate us and make us hate you._

_You do not want me to claim you._

"You know that is not going to work on us," Masaki bit Sho's left earlobe causing him to groan. "Claim us, mate."

Jun got on his knees and licked Sho's other ear. "Make us yours forever, mate."

"No!" Sho said pushing the couple two metres away from him. "No."

"Damn it! We are willing, damn you!" Jun's eyes turned amber, angry that he got shoved again. "We. Are. Willing." He bit out the words, frustrated.

  
"Wha..." Sho scrambled to tie the sheet around his hips.

  
Masaki chuckled. "Jun read it all. Your journals and lab reports." He gave an amused look at his two mates. One fighting to calm down, the other looking flustered while trying to cover his delicious body. "Our enforcer there is an avid reader. He read every one of them."

  
Sho was lost for words. A thousand questions raced through his mind. He poured everything he was in those books. No one was meant to see them until he was gone.

  
"Sho, are you okay?" Masaki approached him slowly. "Sho?" A loud rumble forced a laughter out of him. "You're hungry. No wonder you're so moody."

  
Even Jun laughed as Sho blushed and put a hand on his stomach. His eyes turning back to their warm chocolate shade. "I've prepared some roast beef downstairs. Let's eat first."

  
Sho's ears were still red as he mumbled, "I need to get dressed."

  
"What a shame," Masaki went to Jun and took his hand. "Guess we can have your meat later."

  
Masaki gave what Sho thought was supposed to be a suggestive wink, but looked more like his face being crunched, before exiting the bedroom with a guffawing Jun. He sighed with relief once he could no longer heard their footsteps.  _Why? Why can't they just leave me be?_  


 

 

 

  
~~~

 

 

 

 

  
Just a very short update. ^^;; Trying to steal time to write.

 


	15. Need

"What the hell?" Sho was taken aback when he saw furniture in his used to be empty living room. His mouth dropped open when he noticed some pieces were not the ones he stored in the basement. They suspiciously looked like they were picked by two puppies he knew. He narrowed his eyes, ready to shout when a ball of fur jumped on his leg.

"Kitty!' He immediately peeled the tiny claws digging into his sweatpants. "What are you doing here? I was going to pick you up later." The fluffy kitten licked his nose when he brought her up close to his face. "I miss you so much. Have you eaten? Are you hungry?"

"There is plenty of food in the kitchen for both of you," Masaki called out to the mayor and his cat cheerfully. "Jun outdid himself today."

Sho nodded and followed Masaki and the delicious aroma of herbs, freshly baked bread, roast vegetables and meat into his kitchen. Kitty perched lazily on his shoulder. His eyes widened at the amount of food neatly arranged on his dining table. On his beautiful ceramics which were supposed to be in a trunk in his basement. "The plates..."

"Eat first, Sho, eat first," Masaki quickly pulled Sho to sit down. "Your stomach was really loud," he stuffed a piece of meat when Sho opened his mouth to protest. "Nice and juicy, right."

Sho nearly moaned as the tender meat melted in his mouth. He was famished and spent the next hour savoring the great spread prepared by Jun, totally oblivious to Kitty leaving him to eat in her designated area, with Jun and Masaki tucking in on either of his side. 

"Happy now?" Jun chuckled as he looked satisfied at the empty plates. "Was it good?"

"Yeah," Sho licked his fingers to get the last of the gravy and crumbs. "Amazing." 

"Glad you liked it, Sho," Jun gave him a quick peck on his glossy plump lips. "I still have room for dessert, though you might have to work a bit to fill it up," he whispered while squeezing the mayor's solid thigh.

"I can prepare the cherry for you," Masaki rubbed the mayor's white tank top covered chest. "Get it ready for some popping."

Sho's eyes met Jun's lusty gaze as if he was in heat and eager to be fucked deep and hard. "Tempting, but no."

"I hate it when you say no. Say yes, mate. Yes," Jun grabbed hold of Sho's hand and made the fingers dig in between his butt cheeks. "Take me, Sho. Claim us."

Sho pulled his hand back with force. "No," he said breathing hard, "We need to talk first."

"Talk later. We need," Masaki snaked his hand on Sho's tented crotch. "We need this in us."

"No," Sho stood up. "No talk, no fuck." He crossed his arms.

Jun and Masaki shivered as their mate's biceps and bulging cock became more prominent before Sho turned around and left them for the living room. "Wait!" The couple rushed to follow their irritated mate.

"Explain this," Sho said as he stood in the middle of the living room. "This was not how I left it."

"We moved in and decorated your place with your stuff and ours," Jun answered without preamble.

"What?"

"We told everyone you're our mate and we'll fully bond this full moon," Masaki stated without qualms.

"Hah?!"

"We also told them not to bother us this next three month or I'll kill them myself," Jun smirked. 

"Why?" 

"Because we are soul mates. We have your acceptance in writing too," Masaki pulled what looked like a photocopy of a page with his handwriting from his pocket as if he knew this was going to happen. "See here," he pointed to a sentence, "You wrote, 'Jun Matsumoto and Masaki Aiba are without doubt my soul mates. The ones I'm destined to be with for the rest of my life and build a family'."

Sho closed his eyes recalling the lines that came after it. The ones Fate had cruelly sentenced to a lifetime of torture and unhappiness with an abominable existence. The ones who had their choice and freedom taken away. The ones who deserve better and much more than me. The ones who I will protect at all cost from my own self. 

He turned his back on his mates. "You two should leave. Go and continue being happy." 

"No. We are willing," Jun stated firmly as he stood in front of Sho. "We chose to be with you."

Masaki also stepped before the mayor. "Believe us. We want you to be part of our lives. You are part of us."

"Give us a chance, Sho," Jun said. "Let's try and see how it goes. Maybe it will let you understand how the bond works, and maybe then you'd know how to break it."

"We'll leave if us three don't work out," Masaki said in a small voice. "Three months are all we're asking for."

"I can't. The risk is too high for both of you." 

"Three months, Sho," Jun held up three fingers. "We have thought and discussed this while you were asleep. We are willing and we'll leave if you decided not to stay with us after three months."

"You don't have to say the binding vow. Just see this as an experiment and a way to get rid of the sexual craving out of our system," Masaki added, "Please say yes. You've seen how your condition went bad when you resist. Aren't you curious what would happen if you indulge yourself without even saying the vow?"

Sho wavered. He had professed to wanting to find out if an arrangement without the vow which would bind them as mates for eternity was possible in his lab papers. When bound, the mates would suffer and could go crazy and had to be killed when one of them died first. Being bound felt like attaching a time bomb or death sentence to his mates, but the pain he felt when he denied them was excruciating. 

But he wanted to know. What would it feel like to touch them? To run his fingers through their hair when they sleep? To have their arms around him as they snuggled in the long winter nights? To just hold their hands in his? Just once, if he could only know how it felt to love and pretend that they love him too. Pretend for a short time that he was worthy of being loved... 

"Okay," Sho found himself saying while cursing himself for being greedy and selfish. "Three months, no vow."


	16. Romance

Masaki grinned as Jun awkwardly took a bouquet of flowers from Sho. They were lounging in the tv area after dinner while Sho was washing the dishes since he did not cook.  
  
"Th... Thanks, Sho," Jun stuttered behind the bunch of coral and pink dahlias, sunflowers, lavender and purple bellflowers.  
  
Sho gave a nervous laugh. "It's a bit messy though," He couldn't meet Jun's eyes thinking the flowers he picked around his property might not be good enough for the beautiful werewolf. "I'll order a professionally arranged one next time."  
  
"It's colorful and pretty. I like it," the enforcer said as he stood up and hugged Sho who gave a shy smile. "Thank you, mate."  
  
"Anything for me?" Masaki jumped to his feet as he eyed a paper bag with a big shiny green ribbon hanging on Sho's hand. The full moon had come and gone and they still had not got down to the sexy times. Sho insisted they go slow and get used to living together with the couple sleeping in one of the bedrooms in the house much to Jun and Masaki's annoyance, but he made up for it with little unexpected "romantic" gestures. Probably romantic for humans, Masaki had laughed about it with Jun after the first few times Sho did them, but a bit tedious when they just want to kiss and fuck and fuck some more.  
  
"Yeah, this one is for you, Masaki," Sho handed him the bag as Jun marveled at his flowers. Jun didn't want to admit being a closet romantic which had surprised Masaki too, but Masaki could feel the pleasure from his bonded mate. "I ordered it online and it just came today."  
  
One of the things they learnt from living the past several weeks with Sho was how to shop online. 'Ooh... What is it?" Masaki opened the bag and took out the content. "Limited edition jelly beans with flavors not for the faint hearted," he laughed as he held the big jar up for Jun to see. "We should do a jelly bean Russian roulette!"  
  
"Ah, but..." Sho began before stopping. "Ah, it's fine. Let's see who got the most disgusting flavor."  
  
"Let me find a vase for my flowers first," Jun said as he walked away.  _Masaki, not tonight! He seems to have planned something already._  
  
Oops! Okay, okay, so what do I do now?  
  
 _I swear Masaki, if you just cock blocked us, I'm going to make you suffer._  
  
You're the one who decided not to have sex until all three of us do it even when Sho said it's okay for both of us to go on as usual, you fool.  
  
Shut up!   
  
"Masaki," the healer nearly jumped when Sho placed his hand on his. Since Sho agreed to try being in a relationship with them, he never made the first move to kiss or hug them and only made a few hesitant skin contact. "Who will start first? Janken?" The mayor held up a fist, ready to do the rock-paper-scissor game.  
  
 _Shit shit shit! Jun help. I can't think of anything._  
  
"Where should I put this?" Jun returned with the flowers in a crystal vase. The ancient dhampir-were had a great eye for beautiful things and an extensive collection of antiques they had extracted from his storage and used to make the once cold and empty house now brimming with life.  
  
"Umm... You can put it in my bedroom," Sho blushed. "If you want. I don't know. Anywhere is fine."  
  
Jun and Masaki couldn't control the wide grins they had on their faces. "Sho, are you inviting us to sleep in your bedroom?"  
  
Sho gave a small nod. "My door is open for both of you," he said unsure before rushing, "You don't have to stay, of course. Not now or ever if you're not comfortable and..." His mumbling was cut short as Masaki pulled him eagerly towards the stairs heading up to the bedroom.  
  
 _Finally!_  Jun and Masaki cheered through their mind link.  _Dear Fate, please let it be tonight._

 

 

~~~

 

  
 

***Just a short one to celebrate the announcement of Pikanchi 2.5 movie. ^o^


	17. Whine

"I wish Sho would just fuck us already," Masaki whined to his best friend as he laid down on his stomach on the leather sofa in Sho's library.

  
"You guys still haven't done it?" Nino replied on his headset with his fingers continue tapping on the keyboard doing some coding. "What's wrong with him?"

  
"That's what I'd like to know too!" The healer kept the smartphone Sho bought him close to his ear. "Jun screwed me so hard last night and we thought he'd finally join in. But no... He just sat there and gave us soft kisses and cleaned us after we were done."

  
"Sho is a voyeur? He never tried to have sex with you two?"

  
"He had once," Masaki recalled the first time Jun and he were invited to Sho's bedroom nine days ago, "but he insisted on using condoms as if we're humans or something. Bloody hell. Of course we said no, and he said, 'Fine, I'll just watch'. And he is so freaking stubborn! I hate him!"

  
Nino laughed. "So you guys never got to him sticking it in you, anywhere? And Jun still has his cherry?"

  
"Yes. Now Jun is out shopping, probably going to break Sho's debit card because he's so pissed with Sho denying us all the time. And I just..." Masaki bit his lip trying to control his tears of frustration from flowing down.

  
Nino stopped typing. "Why aren't you out with Jun?"

  
"Recovering from last night. We noticed that Sho gets more worked up when we went rough, but damn his stupid rule. Condoms? How fucking ridiculous is that?! We're werewolves damn it! We don't get those human STDs and shit."

  
"I assume Sho is doing his vampire sleep now since you're screaming like a banshee."

  
"Just imagine Ohno with the latex on while screwing you and then you tell me how that feels."

  
Nino growled in disgust. "We tried once. He couldn't knot. Never again."

  
"What? No knotting?" Masaki sat up. "But Sho isn't an alpha."

  
"I know right. So don't know wh..." Nino paused when a thought came to him. "Hold on. Could he be an alpha too?"

  
"Is that why he can do a mental link with Ohno?"

  
_Satoshi, is Sho an alpha?_ Nino immediately asked his mate.  _Connect with Masaki too._  


  
_I don't know. If he is, he's not interested or didn't care. He never challenged an alpha or has a pack of his own._  Ohno replied after a short pause as he considered the possibility. Alphas are a rare while betas are the most common in a pack.

  
_But can he knot?_  Masaki asked.

  
_Yes if he is an alpha. He can deny his responsibility, but not his nature when it comes to his mates._   


  
_How do you know that you can?_   


  
_I just knew it would happen with Kazu. I didn't with the others and..._   


  
_What?! Who are you fucking, old man?!_   


  
_Kazu, don't get angry. Never after you, baby._   


  
Masaki suddenly lost their voices in his head, but could still hear Nino's tirade over the phone. "Talk to you later, Nino," he whispered before hanging up.

  
_Jun, I think I know why Sho insisted on the condoms._   


  
_Hmm? What?_   


  
_He wants to prevent knotting. Maybe._   


  
_Knotting? He's an alpha?_   


  
_Ohno and Nino said he might be even though he doesn't want to assume the position. Who knows with him being mixed blood and all._   


  
Suddenly a chat pop up on both Masaki and Jun's new smartphones. Sho had convinced them that smartphones had come a long way from their fragile beginning.

  
Nino:

Sakurai needs a taste of his own medicine. He was the one who told Ohno to use the condom. He made us guinea pigs for his experiment!"

  
The couple were taken aback when they read the message in the trio's shared chat group now titled "Make Ohno and Sakurai suffer!"

  
Nino:

You need to tie him down and make him beg. That damn piece of selfish mutt.

  
Jun laughed. He didn't need Nino to tell him that since he just so happened to be in a specialty shop in the city with the same intention in mind already.

  
Jun:

Don't worry, Nino. I got it covered. ;)

  
Masaki:

You do? o_O

  
Jun:

We're going to have a lot of fun having him all tied up in knots, Masaki. <3


	18. Stop

 

Sho woke up hungry and hard for his mates. He groaned at the feel of wet sucking and licking on his cock. Opening his eyes, he could see Jun's lush lips going up and down his shaft and Masaki lifting Sho's balls glistening with saliva before plunging in to take one into his mouth.

  
"Stop..." Sho trying to push them away only to discover that his hands were tied to the wrought iron headboard. He couldn't kick them either with his ankles chained to the bedpost. "Damn it, stop!"

  
"No," Jun smirked, tongue swiping the tip of Sho's cock. "I'm done waiting. I want you to fill my ass with your cum tonight, Sho."

  
"Your balls are so heavy, must be hell not getting to release yourself for a long time, Sho," Masaki said squeezing the balls in his palm causing Sho's body to tense up. "Don't hold back, mate."

  
A glimmer of red appeared in Sho's eyes as the veins in his neck became more prominent, his skin flushed with arousal. "Fuck you let me go!" His hips bucked up nearly throwing the two weres off him.

  
Masaki laughed. "Damn Jun. Our asses are going to be so screwed."

  
"Not funny, Masaki Aiba." Sho gritted his teeth as he fought for his sanity. "Untie me or you two will be sorry."

  
Jun moaned. "Yes, please. I've never wanted anyone to rip my ass so bad." His fingers wrapped around Sho's rigid cock. "Was this how it felt, Masaki? Did you crave my cock like this back then?"

  
"Still do, baby," Masaki reached down to pump Jun's cock. "Still driving me crazy. And now that we have this," he flicked a finger on Sho's slit causing the mayor's head to fall back, "It makes me crazier."

  
"I said NO!" Sho roared and the bed shook as his limbs broke through their bindings and the two weres knocked down on the floor by an invisible force.

  
"Wha..." Jun hissed when he felt a hand clutching at his nape dragging him towards the door. He saw Masaki in Sho's other grip before they were thrown out of the room.

  
"No means no, stupid pups," Sho thundered glaring down at them. "Behave yourself or get out of my house," he said before slamming the heavy door shut on their stunned faces.

  
~~~

  
Sho's head throbbed as he went down the stairs to the living room. It took him nearly an hour to shower and calm down after the stunt the two jerks pulled on him.

  
As he reached the final step, the sound of slapping and pounding can be heard coming from his kitchen. Well, at least they were still in his house.

  
"We're having bread for dinner?" he asked casually sauntering into the kitchen. His question went without reply as Jun continued to knead while Masaki rolled out his dough.

  
Kitty sat on one of the high stools around the marble island looking fascinated at the activities. Aside from opening and closing the refrigerator door, nothing interesting ever happened in the kitchen when she only lived with Sho.

  
"Pizza?" Sho took a seat next to Kitty as Masaki began pouring some tomato sauce on his flat round giant dough.

  
No answer, so Sho kept silent and made like Kitty, eyes moving trying to catch a new action. Jun dividing the dough into four balls. Masaki putting on the salami slices. Jun carefully wrapping each ball with cling film. Masaki slicing mozarella and laying them on the meat layer. Jun preparing the tray for his dough to set in the fridge. Masaki sliding the pizza into the oven.

  
Hunger struck Sho again making his breath catch and his fangs elongate.

  
"Excuse me," he mumbled as he quickly left his seat.

  
"Sho...?" Jun followed slowly when he heard Sho rushing to the basement.

  
_Sho? Are you okay?_ Masaki's voice sounded concern in Jun's head as they went after him.

  
No reply.

  
When they reached the small room in the second basement, the lab door was already tightly shut. They flipped the frame hiding the viewing window in time to see Sho sinking his fangs into a blood pack before he abruptly sat down with a flash of guilt and embarrassment in his eyes.

  
Suddenly Jun and Masaki felt their chests constrict. But it was gone as soon as it had arrived, but the feeling of despair and disappointment lingered.

  
The couple silently sat down on the bed as they waited for Sho to appear. Hands intertwined with worry. It was long minutes before the wall slid open and Sho came out, eyes downcast and smelling like toothpaste.

  
"I think the pizza should be done now," Sho said with forced cheerfulness.

  
Masaki reached out to him, but he side stepped the attempt and went straight out without looking back.

  
Needless to say, dinner was awkward with Sho trying to put up his easy going facade before letting the silence reign. Jun and Masaki barely touched their food.

  
"The pizza is simply marvelous," Sho said with a huge smile which didn't reach his eyes. "I'll clean the table and you guys can go watch tv."

  
"Sho, sorry, we..." Masaki began.

  
Sho shook his head as he stacked their plates. "No need to help. I got this."

  
"That's not..." Jun froze when Sho flinched even before he touched his hands. "You'll join us after cleaning the dishes, yeah?"

  
"Yeah," Sho said distractedly as he carried the dishes to the sink.

  
Jun signaled to Masaki to leave. He just hoped Sho would not shut them out again.

  
~~~

  
The credits were rolling and Sho had yet to join them causing Jun to fidget behind Masaki.

  
"Want to check on him?" Masaki turned nuzzling on Jun's neck.

  
"We went too fast. We shouldn't have forced him like that," Jun sighed. Admittedly, it wasn't one of his best ideas.

  
"He tasted amazing though," Masaki said trying to lighten his mate's mood. "But yeah, I think we should wait until he's ready."

  
"And if he's never ready?"

  
"Then we leave," Masaki's voice wavered. "We still have each other."

  
"And he has no one," Jun said tightening his hold on Masaki.

  
"We still have two months to go, baby," the healer pulled back and got Jun to get up as well. "I think he must be in the hanging teepee. For all his disapproval when we installed it, I often caught him gazing up the sky with Kitty there when he thought we were sleeping."

  
They smiled when they saw the teepee swinging gently hanging on the big tree at the back of the house visible from the kitchen. The smiles turned to frowns when they noticed Sho hugging his knees as if trying to make himself as small as possible.

  
"Sho...?"

  
The mayor looked up startled that he didn't even hear the two werewolves approaching him.

  
"What..." He croaked before clearing his throat. "What are you two doing here?"

  
"May we come in?"

  
Sho nodded and Masaki and Jun gently sat themselves on either side of their third mate on the round base of the teepee. There was just enough light from the house to make out the bold patterns on the cushions and mattress Jun decorated the teepee with.

  
Only their breathing can be heard as they slowly laid back and gazed up the sky glittering with stars.

  
"I don't think I can do this," Sho said piercing the calm. "I can't give what you both want."

  
"Three months, Sho. You promised three months," Masaki whispered.

  
"You don't need me."

  
"We're sorry about earlier," Jun raised up and lean on his elbow to meet Sho's eyes. "Two more months left and we'll go at your pace."

  
"That's not the point," Sho sighed exasperated. "I will only hurt you and I don't want to do that again."

  
"And we wish you would stop hurting yourself by denying our bond, mate," Masaki turned and laid his hand on Sho's heart.

  
"You don't understand. I will more than hurt you. I could ki..."

  
"Hush," Jun put a finger on Sho's lips. "You won't."

  
Sho trembled as Jun and Masaki snuggled closer to him. He did not deserve their trust and care. He would ruin it every time.

  
"Let's just live one day at a time, Sho," Jun weaved his fingers with Sho's and rested them on Sho's chest.

 

Masaki did the same with Sho's other hand. "One day at a time," he repeated the sentence like a mantra. "One day at a time."


	19. Tape

"Where's my phone?" Jun mumbled as he felt around the bedside table.

"Maybe by the couch where I jumped you," Masaki replied tightening his hold as he spooned Sho.

Jun groaned as he walked over naked to the couch in front of the bed, picking up his shirt, jeans, and underwear along the way. He winced when he stepped on a button, and the thought of sewing the buttons back onto the shirt Masaki rip off his body the night before.

He found his phone on the couch, dead. He swore before putting in the cable charger. He couldn't believe how attached he had become to the smartphone, though he mostly used it to take photos to share with Sho who couldn't go out in the summer heat for too long.

"Are you going to make breakfast, Jun? I want sausages," Masaki said as he ran his hand on Sho's thigh. It was always like this for them. They woke up while Sho was sleeping like a log. "Jun...?" He peeled himself off Sho and sat up when Jun didn't reply. "Jun, what's wrong?"

"Come here, Masaki," Jun's eyes didn't leave his phone. The healer pulled on his boxers before joining Jun sitting on the couch with a shirt placed on his crotch.

"What's going on?"

"My phone recorded us last night."

"Sex tape! Let me see." "And more," Jun said as he tap the bar to show the start of the part that caught his interest.

"Do you have the headphones?"

"Here," Masaki said grabbing the wireless headphones in the bowl, giving one to Jun and putting one in his left ear. Thankfully Sho liked everything in its place. He just had to remember to put the items back where he found them or Sho would go mental like the last time he moved the candles. Sho made sure he felt the spanking on his ass for days.

 _"I wish I can do this when you two are awake,"_ Sho's voice can be heard when the video played again. He was kissing Jun and Masaki's foreheads after cleaning them from their mess and tucking them in. He then settled in between his sleeping mates and pecked their lips in turn until Jun stirred.

_"Shh... Sleep tight, Jun."_

Jun and Masaki barely heard the command as Sho placed a hand on Jun's eyes. They hissed as understanding dawned on why they couldn't recall doing anything else after they reached their peaks.

Their irritation gradually melted as Sho continued talking to their sleeping figures gently. He told them about how he admired them. How he envied them. How they tempted him. How they made me happy. How they made him feel joy and made him horny. How it was getting difficult for him to refuse their bonding call, but he had to because he didn't trust himself not to harm them.

 _"It gets harder with the coming full moon. I have to chain myself in the basement hole, but I don't mind,"_ Sho pulled his mates closer to him. _"I will keep you two safe if that's the last thing I do."_

He chuckled. "I've already wrote your names as my beneficiaries in my will. You won't have to worry about money over a hundred lifetimes."

"That's not what we want!" Masaki growled while Jun remained silent. "I don't give a shit about money."

 _"Ahh... So warm,"_ Sho traced the vein of Jun's neck before doing the same to Masaki. "So full of life. I won't be able to stop once I sink my fangs in you."

Then Sho suddenly bolted up. Fists bunching the light summer blanket as he appeared to have trouble breathing.

"Damn it. Must resist. Not many blood packs left," Jun said reading Sho's lips before the screen went black. The recording stopped when the mobile ran out of battery.

Masaki quickly went back to the bed to check up on Sho. He looked gaunt and pale again. The healthy tan he had was no longer there. He wondered if Sho deliberately masked his condition by playing with their minds like he had by putting them into deep sleep.

"Do you think you can heal him?" Jun said.

"I want to kill him."

"He looks fine."

That pretty much confirmed it for Masaki. "Close your eyes, Jun," he said before his hands hovered over Jun's head. Once he knew what Sho did, he could break the mental weave Sho placed on them. "Now look at him again."

Jun's eyes widened. "What's wrong with him? He looks awful like last time."

"I think he manipulated our minds to only see what he wants us to see," Masaki stood back. "We need to know when more blood packs are coming. He's getting weaker if he can't hold the illusion when he's not awake like this. It's not something I can heal."

"Do you think we can draw our blood, put them in packs and feed him like that? He doesn't have to bite us."

"He doesn't want our blood at all. That's how the vampires mate, so he's being very careful. I think I read that somewhere."

"He can't fuck us cause he would knot and that's how weres mate, and he can't feed on our blood cause that's how vampires mate."

"Well, at least he can touch us."

"When we're asleep!" Jun exploded. "Bloody hell."

"Don't know your virgin ass is that impatient."

Jun glared at Masaki. "For that you can fuck yourself for all I care."

"Jun wait," Masaki flinched when Jun slammed the bedroom door closed. "Lucky you can't hear that, Sho."

Masaki brushed the mayor's bangs off his wide forehead. "You need to talk to us when we're awake, baby. You're not alone and we don't like your decisions. I'm calling an intervention."

 

**Author's Note:**

> ~~~
> 
> Not sure where I'd be going with this, but at least it's written. Never dabbled in the werewolf stuff or anything supernatural, so this is new. ^^


End file.
